Armed forces help not enough to combat overburdened hospitals in Sask.: physicians – CBC
Calls for additional restrictions being ignored: medical association president
Oct 24, 2021
Health-care workers in Saskatchewan hospitals and intensive care units shaken by COVID-19 case numbers will be relieved to hear they’ll receive support from the Canadian military, the head of the Canadian Medical Association said — but it might only be a momentary break in the battle.
Physicians and medical associations have lambasted provincial leadership over the past week for playing politics during the pandemic and for late or absent public health measures.
On Friday evening, federal politicians announced on Twitter that the Canadian Armed Forces were being deployed to assist in Saskatchewan hospitals. On Saturday, the Armed Forces confirmed to CBC News that up to six critical care nursing officers would be working in ICUs.
“You know when you’re needing the military to help you, when you’re having to transfer patients out of province, when you’re hearing from your ICU physicians that they’re starting to use laundry rooms as spaces to care for patients I think it’s quite fair to say that you have a crisis on your hands and it’s an all hands-on deck approach,” Dr. Katherine Smart, the national medical association president, told CBC’s David Common on Rosemary Barton Live.
